The subject was molasses. As a Swiss business consultant recalls it, her Italian clients were planning a molasses processing plant in Kenya when she was called to a meeting with representatives of several Kenyan Cabinet ministers and their bankers. To approve the project--designed largely to provide work for unemployed Kenyans--the ministers were demanding "commissions" of 10% each.

In Nairobi's slum district of Kibera, people prayed for peace Sunday under the charred cross and blackened walls of the burned Lutheran church. But in the narrow alleys just 100 yards away, the thugs with machetes still rule. When the service ended, the parishioners in their Sunday best walked home through neighborhoods still teetering on a knife's edge. Just after the service, around the corner from the church, the intimidation went on: An angry, wild-eyed young man with a machete shouted at a woman standing by her gate.

Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka, Nigeria's most prominent dissident, returned to his home country Wednesday after four years of self-imposed exile, in an expression of confidence that the new military government is serious about democratic reforms. Soyinka, an outspoken critic of Nigeria's past military rulers, was the latest and most important exile to heed a call by the new military ruler, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, to help build democracy in Africa's most populous country.

President Daniel Arap Moi has ordered police to videotape all political gatherings, just days after two politicians were arrested following a groundbreaking attempt by opposition parties to forge a united front. Moi said he gave the order to prevent comments that could incite violence in the run-up to elections next year, but rights groups say the president is trying to silence critics. The constitution bars Moi from running.

President Daniel Arap Moi has ordered police to videotape all political gatherings, just days after two politicians were arrested following a groundbreaking attempt by opposition parties to forge a united front. Moi said he gave the order to prevent comments that could incite violence in the run-up to elections next year, but rights groups say the president is trying to silence critics. The constitution bars Moi from running.

Criticism mounted against the government Friday after opposition figures and journalists reported being attacked by ruling party supporters and plainclothes police. The attacks took place Thursday in Nakuru, a city about 85 miles northwest of Nairobi. Renowned paleontologist Richard Leakey was whipped by several men and his car damaged outside the courthouse Thursday in full view of police officers, he said.

Hundreds of curio sellers salvaged merchandise Tuesday from the charred rubble of a market destroyed by gasoline bombs--apparently a politically motivated attack against new residents. The arsonists struck the 700-stall complex in this Indian Ocean resort late Monday. Several Kenyans were injured.

Riot police tear-gassed a group of five elderly mothers of alleged political prisoners and hundreds of their sympathizers Tuesday in the latest attack on Kenya's fledgling opposition. The move cleared the protesters from a downtown park where they had gathered two days ago to stage a hunger strike to protest political detentions. Their vigil had attracted thousands of supporters as well as leaders of Kenya's recently legalized opposition parties.

An order by Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi to prohibit the registration of new political parties has sparked outrage among opposition politicians and civil rights activists, who accuse him of an illegal move that promotes dictatorship. The directive, which was issued over the weekend and requires ratification by parliament, bans new parties associated with current members of parliament.

President Daniel Arap Moi, in remarks apparently meant to end violent debate on the subject, declared that Kenya will not move toward a multi-party democracy. "Any further debate on multi-parties must stop with immediate effect. . . . Kenya cannot afford to have a multi-party political system," Moi said. His statement followed several violent incidents related to public debates about allowing opposition parties.

The deposed president of Ivory Coast fled the West African nation Sunday, leaving the government to a military junta and defusing a brewing confrontation with France, the country's former colonial ruler. The French Foreign Ministry announced that President Henri Konan Bedie flew with his family and a few associates to Lome, the capital of Togo.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Friday that Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi seems to be moving his country toward true democracy after more than two decades as autocratic head of a single-party state. Speaking at a news conference here with Moi at her side, Albright said the Kenyan leader pledged to quickly and fairly complete constitutional reforms and open up the country's economy. Albright also said Moi agreed to contribute Kenyan troops to the U.S.

The man charged with rescuing Kenya's civil service from the depths of mismanagement and corruption has been praised as an industrious and efficient administrator--and slammed as an arrogant son of white colonialists. Richard Leakey, the famed paleontologist and conservationist who was recently appointed to head Kenya's public service sector, will need all those character traits in his new job. Supporters believe that Leakey has the medicine needed to cure the country's economic ills.

An order by Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi to prohibit the registration of new political parties has sparked outrage among opposition politicians and civil rights activists, who accuse him of an illegal move that promotes dictatorship. The directive, which was issued over the weekend and requires ratification by parliament, bans new parties associated with current members of parliament.

Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka, Nigeria's most prominent dissident, returned to his home country Wednesday after four years of self-imposed exile, in an expression of confidence that the new military government is serious about democratic reforms. Soyinka, an outspoken critic of Nigeria's past military rulers, was the latest and most important exile to heed a call by the new military ruler, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, to help build democracy in Africa's most populous country.

Hundreds of curio sellers salvaged merchandise Tuesday from the charred rubble of a market destroyed by gasoline bombs--apparently a politically motivated attack against new residents. The arsonists struck the 700-stall complex in this Indian Ocean resort late Monday. Several Kenyans were injured.

In a sign of government unease with a growing opposition movement, police here have jailed five leading supporters of multi-party democracy in a crackdown that began Wednesday night. The most prominent figures detained in the government action are Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, both former Cabinet ministers in the government of President Daniel Arap Moi, and Gitobu Imanyara, editor of the Nairobi Law Review.

The deposed president of Ivory Coast fled the West African nation Sunday, leaving the government to a military junta and defusing a brewing confrontation with France, the country's former colonial ruler. The French Foreign Ministry announced that President Henri Konan Bedie flew with his family and a few associates to Lome, the capital of Togo.

Criticism mounted against the government Friday after opposition figures and journalists reported being attacked by ruling party supporters and plainclothes police. The attacks took place Thursday in Nakuru, a city about 85 miles northwest of Nairobi. Renowned paleontologist Richard Leakey was whipped by several men and his car damaged outside the courthouse Thursday in full view of police officers, he said.